Kennedy Capital Management LLC Sells 8,502 Shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

Kennedy Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 5.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 136,822 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 8,502 shares during the period. Kennedy Capital Management LLC’s holdings in ALLETE were worth $8,866,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake in ALLETE by 30.9% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 729 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in ALLETE by 32.9% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 876 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in ALLETE during the 4th quarter valued at $73,000. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 61.7% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,431 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $158,000 after buying an additional 928 shares during the period. Finally, Alerus Financial NA bought a new position in shares of ALLETE during the 4th quarter worth $202,000. 76.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

ALLETE Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:ALE opened at $64.62 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.75 billion, a PE ratio of 20.85 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. ALLETE, Inc. has a 12-month low of $56.66 and a 12-month high of $65.99. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $65.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $64.97.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.02 by ($0.15). ALLETE had a net margin of 11.72% and a return on equity of 5.97%.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.73 per share. This is a boost from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.52%. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio is presently 94.19%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of ALLETE in a research report on Friday, January 10th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock.

ALLETE Company Profile

ALLETE, Inc operates as an energy company. The company operates through Regulated Operations, ALLETE Clean Energy, and Corporate and Other segments. It generates electricity from coal-fired, biomass co-fired / natural gas, hydroelectric, wind, and solar. In addition, the company provides regulated utility electric services in northwestern Wisconsin to approximately 15,000 electric customers, 13,000 natural gas customers, and 10,000 water customers, as well as regulated utility electric services in northeastern Minnesota to approximately 150,000 retail customers and 14 non-affiliated municipal customers.